Sunday, June 15, 2008

Time to Put Down the Mad Dog of Harare

It's a neat trick. Frustrate the legitimate democratic aspirations of your opposition, brutalize them and oppress your people - until they begin to think about things like regime change - and then arrest them for treason for thinking about regime change.

Robert Mugabe is the mad dog of Zimbabwe. Now he's served notice that his army will "go to war" if he loses the presidential run-off in two weeks. 'It shall never happen ... as long as I am alive and those who fought for the country are alive,' he said. 'We are prepared to fight for our country and to go to war for it.'

Now, the key words to Mugabe's rant are "as long as I am alive." From The Guardian:"Sources across Zimbabwe have reported an increasing number of roadblocks manned by militias and war veterans, effectively cutting people off and creating a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

James McGee, US ambassador in Harare, said 30,000 potential MDC voters had fled their constituencies. Mugabe has already ordered charities to stop work, leaving millions struggling to find food in the collapsed economy.A total of 67 people have been killed and tactics familiar from past state violence campaigns are returning - sticks rolled with barbed wire, whippings and arson. The internationally-touted 'third way' - a Government of National Unity - has been met with stiff opposition from the military, Zanu-PF and many in the opposition who want no truck with Mugabe. Andrea Sibanda, of Matabeleland Freedom Party said: 'Whoever is floating the idea of GNU with Mugabe and Zanu-PF must be coming from another planet. How does one unite with them when their hands are dripping with blood of their kith and kin?'"

Nope, sorry, but this brutal charade has gone on far too long already. Somebody has to turn Mugabe's generals against him to topple this monster or a force has to come from outside Zimbabwe's borders to bring down the entire brutal regime. If Mugabe won't step down while he's alive, well that's his choice, isn't it?